Friday, 1 December 2006

Now that I have been able to see the advert, the full extend of the signatories' delusion becomes apparent. Not only is this law not about sex (as I mention in part one) but it will not force people to do things (like teaching school children about Civil Partnerships, which they probably should do anyway as part of telling about the country's institutions) but solely prevent them from being as maliciously intolerant as they reveal themselves to be in this episode. They clearly seem ready to turn away gay orphans simply for who they are, forgetting, as they so often do their own doctrine of hating the sin while loving the sinner: They very clearly hate the "sinners". Thus proving the need for such regulations.

The advert is full of lies and shows how hysterical those people are about this subject. As I said, the law will not force school to teach certain things, neither will it force those poor Christian B&B owners to shelter transexual couples (Transexual couple are quite rare in the first place) simply because the new regulations apply to sexual orientation only and not to trans people who get separate protection from the Gender Recognition Act 2004, I believe. Transexual are in their minds obviously even more scary then gay people.

The fourth point in the advert clearly refers to those Scottish firemen who, earlier this year, refused to attend a Gay Pride event and distribute safety information. This had nothing to do with them "promoting the [so called] homosexual way of life". This was about them doing the job of prevention, they are payed to do with all tax paying parts of the community. Again, the advert is misrepresenting the truth.

With this advert, the homophobic groups within the Christian faith are once again showing how intolerant and irrational they can be. They indeed show themselves ready to cut their noses to spite their faces by saying that they will "will shut down the youth clubs and welfare projects rather than obey these laws." (Pastor Ade Amooba of Christian Voice in Brixton, South London. One of Stephen Green's little friends, so no surprise there.)

In the meantime, The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, said "It will be the poor and disadvantaged who will be the losers." My question is why should they other they because you have decided to make them the losers to win your little moral victory?. He is supporting in this the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols who had warned earlier this week that Catholic schools, adoption agencies, welfare programmes, halls and shelters would all be threatened by the pressure to accept "moral standards at present being touted by the Government". (source)

Another way in which you can get involved, further to those suggested on my previous post on this:

Support the goods and services laws - lobby your MP

As Ben [Summerskill, CEO] says [in his message in the same document], these so-called Christians are being very vocal about their concerns about the new laws, and very inaccurate too. So it's really important that lesbian and gay people's voices are heard to say why these laws are so important - to stop the daily discrimination faced in hotels, restaurants and bars, but, more important, to ensure that the public services we pay for are fair.

These laws will mean schools can no longer ignore homophobic bullying, gay patients can no longer receive second class healthcare and local authorities will have to deal with homophobic harassment on their housing estates.

So please send a quick email to your local MP asking them to support the goods and services laws when they come before parliament in the new year. It will only take a couple of minutes but will help MPs realise that this will make a real difference to people's lives.

Go to www.writetothem.com put in your postcode and you will be able to send an email to your local MP. Hearing from our supporters always helps us when it comes to lobbying MPs. Stonewall eBulletin - 01 December.

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